The stakes are almost unimaginable.
It's the team with the most intense pressure to advance beyond the first round, perhaps ever, versus the red-hot, two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Whichever way it goes in a stark contrast between angst and swagger, hunger and taxation, and inexperience and sophistication, the result from the first-round series between two of the three most successful regular-season teams over the last half decade will dictate how the rest of the Stanley Cup Playoffs play out.
First-round series quite literally don't come bigger than the Toronto Maple Leafs versus Tampa Bay Lightning.